Plenty of observable facts about climate change's effects: Letter to the Editor

It’s embarrassing that the Plain Dealer actually published Kevin O’Brien’s total dismissal of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report ("Lacking observable evidence, climate hucksters just crank up the volume," April 2). With over 97 percent of the scientific community supporting the IPCC data, his assertion that the reports represent “a quarter-century of cooking data, ignoring observable phenomena, twisting the scientific method into a pretzel, crying ‘wolf!’ and generally giving science a black eye” would be laughable except that I’m afraid he’s serious.

If anything, IPCC reports have underestimated the climate response. Rising CO2 levels, melting ice and rising seas are observable facts. His assertion that “merry pranksters” are making it all up for political purposes with the aim of damaging U.S. energy policy and weakening the U.S. economy is absurd. Those that are profiting from “business as usual” are the fossil fuel companies that are grabbing every dollar they can now with no accountability to future generations. Rather, investments in better preparation can pay dividends both for the present and for the future.

O’Brien correctly states the bottom line is still “We’re all gonna die!” but his approach of living better by making the most of our fossil fuel resources without paying attention to the impacts on our planet and its inhabitants is very short-sighted.

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